Highlanders: Unlocking Identity Through History (Paperback)

The author has scoured hundred of arcane tomes and dozens of hard-to-reach archives to fill out a compelling, detailed nuanced story of a marginalized and frequently misrepresented people. But he wears his learning lightly. The reader is thankful that he often takes into account popular perceptions and mis-perceptions. Like cleaning up the distortions of history to be found in Mel Gibson's Braveheart."—Douglas Brode, author of Shakespeare in the Movies"To plumb the identity an elusive ethnicity with mixed antecedents, the author burrows through a dozen layers of relationships between the Highlands and Ireland. They begin with shared ancient artifacts that predate the arrival of Celtic languages. The Scottish Gaelic and Irish languages both derive from Old Irish despite many distinct differences. Citations of links to Ireland appear all though Highlanders because the story cannot be told without knowing the Irish contributions."—Maureen O'Rourke Murphy, past-president, American Conference for Irish Studies"Highland history is so remote from us that when persons emerge from the mist they look like ciphers in a folktale. MacKillop seizes these names for us, like Somerled the founder of dynasties, Colkitto the warrior, and the several Lords of the Isles, and puts flesh on them. They made noise and affected lives. So too with Gaelic poets usually known by their nicknames, Rob Donn or Iain Lom. Their verses were memorized and recited for generations."—Donna Woolfolk Cross, author of Pope Joan